ORANGE Wine Week Festival has continued to evolve and its ever-growing popularity has forced organisers to extend this year’s event over three weekends.

Festival marketing and communications officer David Cumming said the move allowed current events on the wine week calender to prosper and grow, while introducing new and exciting events.

“There’s various reasons as to why we’ve gone from two weekends to three and one of those is to allow us to cater for people who come from Sydney for a weekend,” he said.

“But the fact that the event’s growth over nine years has been huge also played a role. Events like the public tasting get bigger every year and this way we believe we’re catering for everyone.”

Iconic events that have been successful in the past including Orange Wine Show tasting, night markets and the wine show dinner, will return bigger and better, according to festival chair Michelle Stivens.